


A Grand Hunt

by Merfilly



Category: Alien Series, Alien vs Predator (2004), Aliens (1986), Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Predator Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Misses Clause Challenge, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:06:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2700671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sector that had a hoard of Hard Meat eggs was being encroached by the expansion of the Soft Meat herds. SpearKiller goes to see what damage has been done, and reacts accordingly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Grand Hunt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Truth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truth/gifts).



> Much gratitude to ilyena_sylph for the plot bunny and the brainstorming and the beta!

SpearKiller, as the yautja's name would translate in a primary language of the Soft Meat, was not pleased that a scout ship had passed word of that same prey's encroachment at the edge of their space. It had been some time since she had hunted the bipedal, tool-using prey, but her displeasure outweighed the anticipation of hunting them once again, for one reason.

The planet they had settled on held a valuable resource, one her people depended on for seeding other hunting grounds with Hard Meat. The derelict space ship that had crashed there an immeasurable time ago had yielded many eggs since its forced landing, some of which had even given them queens to keep in cryogenic captivity.

With enough hosting prey in the vicinity of that ship, though, their supply was now threatened. Granted, it would also give them all the opportunity for a Grand Hunt, as the hive-colony worlds had become rare throughout yautja-claimed territory. Her elders preferred not to lose the supply of eggs, though, as the ones gained from that crashed ship had always delivered excellent prey in the past.

~`~`~

She remembered screaming. It always echoed in her ears when she tried to sleep, the sound of her own voice echoing inside the crawler's cab. She could see her father, hear her mother, but it was her scream at the pulsating, many-legged thing on her father's face that haunted her dreams. Even after the other monsters came, the giant things that stole away the people, killing some, it was her own scream that always brought her up out of the nightmares.

The ductwork had saved her. She'd gone to hide as soon as they got back, wanting to be away from the thing on her father's face. Her mother had been too busy in medical to notice, and Timmy had gone off to his friends. Her hiding place was safe, and stayed safe even when the bullets started flying. Being young didn't mean being stupid, and she started paying attention to when the things came to explore the base, to steal away more adults, and made sure she timed her scavenging for when they weren't there.

The adults never saw her, never tried to help her, even as the children kept dying each night the things came. Maybe they just wanted all the kids dead, or... maybe she was just that good at hiding. Either way, the monsters and the adults were becoming entwined in her mind as she kept hiding. The adults brought the monsters, at the very least. 

~`~`~

The yautja chose a rocky outcropping between the Soft Meat buildings and the derelict to land her vessel. With her full cloaking in place, the hunter slipped into the waning light of the desolate world's day, casting her head toward the ancient ship first, and then to the buildings of the Soft Meat. The larger structure was some form of atmosphere generator, if her ship had given her good data. That left the other complex as where the Soft Meat lived, probably. She would explore the unknown area of the Soft Meat habitation first; perhaps they had not yet discovered the menace within the derelict. After all, the smallest forms of the Hard Meat did not stray until their cocoons were triggered by a living presence.

With fast, loping strides, SpearKiller made her way to the vast complex that provided shelter and an illusion of safety to the other prey on this world.

~`~`~

The child scurried quickly into the supply bay, having searched and scanned for any of the monsters that haunted the colony buildings. Nothing had shown itself, and now she needed more food packets for her safe place. Quickly, she went to the crates holding the raw materials for the dispensers, having exhausted the crates closer to where she was. These packets were not tasty like the real food she had managed to find at first, but it was better than going hungry.

A sound, distant from where she was, made her flatten against the crates, listening with all her might. The noise did not repeat, but she gathered what she had gained so far and dove back for her passageways rather than search any more, stopping only to put the grate firmly back in place. She would not let the monsters get her the way they had gotten everyone else.

~`~`~

An exterior inspection of the Soft Meat outpost showed multiple points of possible entry as well as which ones were in use. That resin had been spotted near an acid eaten grate made it clear the Soft Meat had fallen prey to the Hard Meat. The knowledge made SpearKiller growl in anticipation. How many hosts had the Hard Meat secured? How large was the hive? Why had the Hard Meat chosen not to make the hive immediately where their hosts were? The questions flicked through her mind swiftly, and led to her going inside the habitation to learn as much as she could about the Soft Meat who had fallen.

She made as little noise as she could, but the grating and plates the humans had built with were flimsy compared to her mass, and a creak sounded through the corridors. SpearKiller froze in place, listening intently to the echoes. Water dripped in the distance, and metal continued to snap and pop with temperature changes as the sun lowered, but she could not hear any clicking or hissing that indicated it was time to hunt. Satisfied, she continued her exploration of the Soft Meat outpost, tasting the rancid fear that still hung in the air.

~`~`~

Above, the endless black was sundered by a megalithic ship, fully automated and beginning the process of awakening the few humans aboard. The planet below was their destination, with all that might await their discovery.

~`~`~

The tang of fear was thickening, as well as something else, something that accelerated the need to hunt within SpearKiller. She moved faster, tracking the smell until a sound confirmed her suspicions. One of the Hard Meat was exploring, its feet making the scrabble of claw and exoskeleton on the grating. She readied a net and her spear, wishing a quiet kill this first time. Were there still Soft Meat in the outpost? That would explain why a drone was prowling still, though it could easily be looking for things to use as part of the hive walls.

Walking carefully slow to avoid creating any noise, SpearKiller moved around a corner to see the drone was crouching low, long-taloned fingers flexing around the grating of a wall duct. There was no skill in taking a distracted prey, and SpearKiller shimmered into visible spectrum. As the cloaking stopped buffering the air pressure no longer hiding what she displaced, the drone instantly whirled and rose on its hind legs. SpearKiller almost growled in pleasure behind her mask; she had forgotten how physically endowed the ones hatched from Soft Meat tended to be. The drone was tall and sinuous, its tail fully prehensile and with a sharpened spike-tip. She did not intend to allow it to close with her, firing the net almost immediately on the prey straightening, so that its full body was exposed to the cutting monofilaments of the net. Nor could the acid of the Hard Meat's blood truly damage this net; much had been learned about tempering their weapons to prevent the early escapes from ever happening again.

The net tacked the drone to the wall by the grate, and the acid ran down from it, eating at that flimsy backstop. SpearKiller only had a few moments to aim her preferred weapon before the wall would give way and the drone would attack her. She allowed for the physiological changes made by hatching from Soft Prey, and then threw the spear for where she believed the cardiovascular pump to be. That was one of the challenges of hunting Hard Meat, as their drone forms adapted to the creature they came from, thus changing where killing blows might be located. Like the net, her spear was constructed to resist the acid, but as the weapon pierced inward, a gout of the acid ate swiftly into the wall and floor around the drone.

SpearKiller growled, leaping across the intervening distance, to yank on her spear shaft and use it to keep the drone from falling to a different level. She would not be denied her trophies! She moved a little too fast for the drone to actually be dead, though, and a last flailing strike of the drone's tail, just outside the net, sliced across her lower leg, leaving blood glowing on the flooring.

~`~`~

She didn't dare breathe, couldn't move. She'd frozen at the first sounds, as far back in the crawlway as she could get. She had kept hoping the monster would move on, knowing she was in one of the few changeover ducts that was large enough for it to get in. Then there had been the other thing, all lizard-skinned under the mesh and armor it wore, standing taller than any man she had ever known. And it had killed the monster, making it bleed into the wall and floor and grille protecting her.

The child did not know if the thing with mottled skin was a monster. She did know the other ones were, and when her eyes saw past the grate to one stealthily coming into the corridor, she made her choice. The new creature had killed a monster, something she hadn't seen any of the adults do.

"LOOK OUT!" she yelled, even though her young mind knew that the thing probably did not speak Basic.

The masked face, framed by snake-like tendrils, whipped to her, and then the killer was up, spinning around. The child could not see what, but the killer threw something shiny, and it cut right through the monster's head, peeling it open to show something that looked like a too-large brain. The monster fell over, with little bleeding of the acid gunk. Even in her fear, now that she was exposed to the new thing, the child took notice of that small fact.

~`~`~

SpearKiller had not heard Soft Meat words in a long time, but she had hunted them in the past. Those two words had been shouted in her presence, and she rarely forgot words from the sapient prey, at least not the ones that warned. Always before, it had been a Soft Meat trying to save its herd-mates. Focusing out, away from her trophies had given her the threat she needed to be wary of, and she had responded.

Now, she had an ethical quandary. Gratitude was not unknown to her. Normally, such gratitude would be expressed by either letting the prey live, or by granting it a quick, easy death. But this Soft Meat who had warned her was only a suckling, an unfinished member of the species. At that size, it was nearly impossible to tell its biological function without a scan, but the fact of being immature pushed hard at SpearKiller's sense of hunting ethics.

The young were rarely killed, unless malformed, diseased, or otherwise unhealthy for the herd. This suckling seemed none of those. Yet, to leave it here was to kill it, for the drones would not care about its age. She growled, then brought her arm with the computer on it up. She keyed through the languages it had programed, and played one word.

"Come."

With the invitation made, SpearKiller went back to acquiring her trophy, letting the immature Soft Meat choose.

~`~`~

The child heard the word, and considered just diving for the far side of the duct, to get down the smaller passage there. The killer was ignoring her now. Yet, it had killed two monsters! If she came out, maybe there would be better food, safety, even a chance to sleep properly.

Ready to bolt back in, the child kicked at the loosened grate, then slipped into the corridor, scanning all around just in case more were coming. The killer noted her, grunted behind the mask, and then tapped on the console strapped to its arm.

"Follow," was the word this time, and the child did as told. They left behind two husks and a damning blood spatter that glowed brightly even yet.

~`~`~

"Lieutenant, giving you the ground feed. Counting the colony buildings as one grouping, I'm showing four distinct, large metallic objects, not three like the brief said," Ferro began. "The unknown fourth is obscured from my visuals, cutting the distance between our people and the civilian's bug-ground about in half."

Gorman inspected the feed, making out the imposing structure of the atmosphere plant as one point, then the colony buildings as another. The derelict was plotted out with an unfriendly red 'X' in the darker quadrant, while a question mark hovered between the three points. He tried to analyze the grainy image into something that maded logical sense, but the rocks and that metallic tag were blurring into one. 

"Possibly just ore. Maybe a refuse pile from the construction, to keep radioactives buried," he said, dismissing the concern. "Carry out the flight path."

"Sir…" Apone tried to protest.

"Carry out the plan," Gorman reinforced firmly, not letting his authority be questioned where the Marines or, worse, the Corporate Man, could hear.

"Yes sir," came Ferro's unthrilled response.

~`~`~

With two drones killed, and small trophies safely strapped to her back, SpearKiller took the suckling back toward one of the common areas. The little one kept up with her, running sometimes, but obviously intent on surviving by staying close. SpearKiller approved; the wish to survive could be molded to strength. Once in there, the suckling tucked a little closer to her leg than she would have preferred, but SpearKiller dropped down to a crouch anyway.

"Many?"

That word was one she remembered from a hunt, and could easily say without the prey-mimic of the computer's voice. She indicated all the overturned chairs and general chaos of the room, but then tapped one finger on the suckling's chest. She then repeated the word. "Many?"

The suckling turned its fleshy mouth parts inward, as if biting on its own flesh. Were Soft Meat prey herds cannibalistic? She could not recall. She also did not have time, and started to stand.

"Yes," the small voice of the suckling arrested her motion. "Many," she added, using SpearKiller's nuance on the word. 

"Where are they?!" came out as a harshly whispered query from the computer after a moment's typing. It had access to the data of every yautja that had lived to share its hunt experience on the home world, giving her access to many prey-mimic words.

"They come, the monsters. They take them away, through the tunnels," the suckling answered. It took the computer a moment to parse the quiet words, but when it translated, confirming half-remembered words for SpearKiller, the yautja nodded. This place had been too open, too easy to penetrate, but the derelict was so far away.

A frisson of thrill went through her as well, because if the drones were just taking Soft Meat away, that meant they had enough eggs to use them. In all likelihood, rather than moving eggs from the derelict, that meant a queen had hatched out.

This world would be suitable for a grand hunt, once she sent out a beacon. It would take many clans, many hunters, to capture the queen and subdue her for egg-laying. Yet, a rebellious part of her soul called for a solo hunt, chattered to take the queen herself and add the carapace to her trophies. She made herself hold firmly to her mission here, though. Perhaps some eggs yet remained in the derelict, but they could be destroyed now, in favor of fresh ones. Ones hatched out of the Soft Meat even! She just needed to get back to her ship, take the suckling with her to teach it to be a proper hunter, and send the beacon off to gather hunters.

~`~`~

"Umm, sir, we might have missed the party, but someone left us a present," Hicks called dryly as he and his squad inspected the kill site. Apone's squad was still quartering, but Hicks had held his up here to investigate. "Acid for blood, like Ripley said, but there's something bio-luminescent near the carcass by the wall." He kept his camera on that one, and the spattered glowing droplets. Dietrich was raking the one with the open braincase over with her camera while Drake and Frost covered the two approaches.

Ripley, still with the lieutenant and Burke, and the synth, choked a little on the sight of two of the nightmares right there, looking slightly different from the one in her memories, but there and dead. What had cut through them, left those injuries, like that without leaving evidence of the weapon itself?

And what were the glowing spots?

"I've never seen that part before. And they… they look different," she managed to say. She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide forever; she wondered why she had come; she needed to be anywhere but here… and yet she could be nowhere else.

"Right," Hicks called back. "Moving in further, sir."

~`~`~

SpearKiller's head whipped toward the intersection of the hall they were in, taking a step past the suckling to hide it behind her legs as she powered up the shoulder mounted laser. She had taken the small Soft Meat on a circuit of the complex to be certain the rest of her kind were truly gone. Their progress had been delayed as the suckling snatched a bag in one room and started putting items, which seemed to be foods, in it as they went. As SpearKiller would have to access the database for how to feed a Soft Meat suckling, it suited her to allow this scavenging.

Only their slowness in leaving had allowed something to enter the complex in numbers, which might make reaching the ship more difficult. The cloaking of her gear would not protect the suckling, so she prepared to fight how many ever drones had come to find their death.

~`~`~

Drake was bringing the heavy gun down on target as the creature ahead processed in his head as 'demon', 'danger', and 'target' all as one. He only barely heard Hicks shouting "Don't fire!" before his squad leader knocked him to the side and also dove. The weight of the gun almost kept Hicks' shove from being enough, but it did break Drake's control on the trigger. The explosion behind them told them the impossibly tall humanoid, built like a tank, had not held fire.

Dietrich scrambled to get her weapon on the tall, masked creature, not understanding why Hicks had done that, even as Frost was flattening against a wall.

"DON'T SHOOT!" Hicks ordered, ignoring the demand for explanations in his ears from Apone and Gorman both. He even put his gun up, muzzle away from that end of the hall, as he scrambled to find a way to salvage this situation. He might not know shit about those bugs of Ripley's, but he had heard about the Devil Hunters in front of him. "Do not even point your weapons!" he hissed at his team.

~`~`~

SpearKiller, understanding the authority being used but confused by the reasoning, kept tracking the Soft Meat with the largest weapon. That one was dangerous, as it could actually tear through armor and shielding. She let out the hair-raising hunting call, one that made many prey species flinch in fear. She noted the female's scent spiked, as well as the male at the rear of this small pack. The big gunner didn't… and neither did their leader.

Why had he stopped his team?

The suckling tucked in harder against her legs, and SpearKiller could smell fear on it again.

"Yours?" she asked it, after searching for the possessive word in her memory of the Soft Meat herds.

"No."

That prompted SpearKiller to pop the razor disk out for ready use.

~`~`~

"Whoa, whoa," Hicks said as soon as the kid he'd barely glimpsed spoke in answer to the Devil Hunter. The rumors he'd heard from his previous unit said these things were merciless, killing anything in their way. Something like that, something that had to be what killed the two bugs, was a potential ally they needed, if he could just find the right words to win it over. He was still ignoring Gorman, but Frost was quietly telling Apone their location and situation.

"Talk," the Devil Hunter demanded, that gun on its shoulder never leaving Drake as a target.

"We're here to find the other humans, like that one behind you," Hicks said. "And handle the situation with those things that are here. You killed two, right? Saw them. That was real good, and we want to know how to do it," he said brazenly. The shitstorm in his ear from Gorman was distracting, but the last thing he needed was even a single dead team member, and there was no way Drake could take a hit without dying. "Can you understand me? I want to work with you, to kill those things."

The masked creature drew its hand away from the weapon at its side and the one on the shoulder swiveled up, just slightly.

"Squad, weapons down, back into quartering formation," Hicks ordered, not accepting less than full obedience in his tone.

Slowly, they obeyed, while the Devil Hunter waited.

"Sir, I think we have an ally to help us deal with Ripley's bad guys," Hicks announced to the spluttering lieutenant.

~`~`~

The Soft Meat leader was offering SpearKiller a chance to do what she wanted. Yes, they would lose the new eggs, if she recalled how violently destructive the Soft Meat herds were. As long as the derelict was left alone, there should still be eggs there, because she doubted the entire depository had been utilized by these new drones. If they had hatched a Queen, she would not wish to use her predecessor's clutch.

By using these Soft Meat as a hunting pack, she could potentially breach the nest, get to that Queen, and finally have the trophy that all of her clan would envy. Her prowess would be known for all eternity. 

~`~`~

Burke had watched it all spiral completely out of his control. From the alien killer in their midst, who refused to acknowledge Gorman or even Apone while listening to the stupid grunt Hicks, to the absolute lack of profitable knowledge found in the colony, he felt like this was on the verge of being a complete loss.

His only hope now was the pair of specimens in medical that their guest had not yet seen. All he had to do was find the right vector for transporting them back to the bio-weapons division. It was a matter that preyed on his mind the entire time they were en route to the atmosphere plant. Supposedly, the grunt called Hudson had found the colonists.

Burke was just hoping they were all dead, because otherwise, he was going to have one hell of a time cooking up a story everyone would buy.

~`~`~

"Remember what our new friend said about acid spatter," Apone told his team. Hicks was watching the Devil Hunter, who was prowling at the back of the APC. "Short, controlled bursts, incinerators on and ready for up-close fighting."

The alien killer made a purring noise at that, making all of the Marines twitch. Gorman just swallowed his gall and concentrated on the cameras and vitals; that thing looked more deadly that the carcasses he had seen in the colony base. Let the corporal play interpreter and diplomat; he was still in charge. It was a delegated duty in his briefing.

~`~`~

SpearKiller did not pay attention when the Soft Meat paused and spoke in hostile tones. She watched them adjust their guns, but was uncertain why they were removing the small rectangles from them. She had a hunt, a grand hunt, and would not be denied her prize.

The suckling she had left with the female who wore neither armor nor weapons. SpearKiller knew most species afforded the luxury of non-hunters, non-warriors, but there was something fierce in this one that left her certain the suckling would have the chance to survive at her side. It might even be best to leave the small creature with its own kind.

Then they were in the nest proper, with the rot of decaying organic matter, the hardened walls of the drones' making all around them, obscuring the Soft Meat construction. SpearKiller snarled in readiness for the hunt as they found the first of the broken hosts. The Queen had to be near, and while she would be guarded, there were others to distract them. She brought her full cloaking back on just moments before she passed the only host registering as living on her scans. She flicked her spear out, driving it into the unconscious host's ribs at an angle, and they all heard the screech of the nearly full grown embryo is it was dragged back out of the hole on the tip of the spear. With a seasoned flick, SpearKiller knocked it off, and evaluated the corridors left to enter even as the Soft Meat herd made out the first dangers now closing in on them.

She was already moving out of the incubation chamber when the others began firing the incinerators… accompanied by the sound of pulsing fire from the two large guns.

~`~`~

"Fucking monster left us behind!" Hudson roared, terrified he wasn't going to see home ever again, that he'd made it down to a final countdown just to punch his ticket for hell.

"Pull it in tight, people!" Apone shouted back, trying to gain control as the walls came alive. "Drake! Vasquez! Incinerators before you spray someone with acid!"

Wierzbowski screamed to one side of the group, then went sickeningly quiet. Crowe had taken a tail tip to the guts, causing Dietrich to try and triage. Her scream had not ended as quickly, and Apone was certain he could still hear Crowe crying out for her to come back.

"Fall back, circle formation, keep it tight! Frost, eyes high. Drake, point! Vasquez, rear-guard!" Apone barked, getting his team in a semblance of order. At least the pulse rifles had stopped, though Apone was certain the two heavy gunners would turn to them again before they got back out of here. 

~`~`~

Too many. SpearKiller was snarling to find the eggs and their maker surrounded by more drones than could easily be counted. With so many, there was no chance to take a trophy, but there was also a duty.

A hive this large, where they had run out of other hosts, would resort to cannibalism, making new drones from themselves. It had happened on other worlds. And when it did, the resulting Hard Meat were very, very difficult to control or hunt without high casualties. Reluctantly, she programmed her computer for self destruction, before using the shoulder rifle to sow chaos in the room. Under that cover, she threw the bomb in and then ran, back toward the Soft Meat and their transportation.

~`~`~

Apone felt his jaw clench as Vasquez gave a yell. He turned to help her, aware of Frost's bleeding shoulder wound, or Hudson who had acid burns in a hand. He had lost three in that hell hole; he didn't want to lose any more of them. He saw the clawed hand that had come up to grab at Vasquez from the floor… and then abruptly, the hand was severed, just before the large alien menace shimmered back into view, catching a flying metal disk.

"Run, now!" the masked creature hissed in a guttural voice, lifting Vasquez -- with her gun rig! -- like a child to match actions to her words. As the drones were melting away from them in a seeming panic, Apone listened.

"You heard the alien! Run! Lieutenant, I think our ally just made a fast dust off a critical priority! Can you get Ferro to meet us, sir?"

There was a slight squelch on the line, and then it was Ripley's voice. "Bish… ling for… ro now!"

Apone didn't ask what had happened to the lieutenant, but he sure as hell hoped the civilian was proving her chops again in a way he liked.

~`~`~

Burke was not liking having a gun pointed at him. As the mayhem had started, he'd tried to talk sense into Gorman, into Ripley. The comms kept cutting out, and what they could hear hadn't sounded good.

Why hadn't they listened to his suggestion to pull out?

Then the APC doors opened, distracting Gorman, and Burke thought he had his chance. "He's crazy! They all are!" Burke shouted to Apone, even as he tackled Gorman in a low dive.

Marines were loyal to marines, though. Assaulting one of them was a fast ticket to a bullet in a vital location as Burke learned, blood pouring out of his mouth from an instinctive shot by Drake.

It had even been a short, controlled burst his dying mind told him.

~`~`~

Spunkmeyer saw a big, black blur moving as he went to shut the hatch, having got the word to lift off. "Punch it!" he yelled forward, even though the door wasn't close to being sealed. He grabbed for an oh-shit handle, and got to watch that black thing fade in the distance even as the gee-force threatened to knock him out as Ferro did just what he'd said to.

~`~`~

The APC ground to a halt not far from the atmosphere station, where the ground was clear enough to land the drop ship. As soon as they came to a stop, the Devil Hunter was on its feet, and Hicks moved to open the door. 

"Boom," the Devil Hunter said, looking back at where they had come from. 

"That was what rocked us coming out?" Hicks asked, getting a slow nod in answer. The Devil Hunter then looked toward the front of the vehicle as the kid wiggled free of restraints.

"Don't leave me!" the kid demanded. Hicks held his breath as the alien ally crouched, one long-clawed hand coming out to rest on the kid's chest.

"You-man." The alien then rested a hand on its own chest. "Yautja." Fingers went up to the hoses in the mask, as the kid shook her head, trying move closer. When that mask came off… well, Hicks wasn't certain he could have made the deal without the mask in place. "Yautja. Go. You-man go other."

None of the other marines were even breathing in their direction, so Hicks reached down only to have the kid evade him, and stubbornly shake her head.

"I can be yautja! I want to kill the monsters some day!"

Soft steps in the APC made Hicks turn, and there was the civilian.

"Newt," she called, trying to make the child step back. The Devil Hunter rose, ignoring Hicks in favor of Ripley.

"You-man… hunt?" 

"She's just a kid," Ripley said.

"Not small you-man." The clawed finger pointed at Ripley. "Hunt?" Ripley looked back through the APC door at the atmosphere station, beginning to discharge a hell of a lot of lightning around the structure. She then looked at the Marines, at the child who was tangling her fingers in one of the alien's net carry sacks. 

"Teach me," she said resolutely, looking down at Newt. "And I'll teach her."

The mask was lifted back up, hiding that monstrous visage. "Good. Ship. Come." 

Hicks tried to find the words… but what kind of life would a haunted woman and a kid have back on Earth? He wasn't looking forward to the nightmares this mission was going to leave him with, and he had read her briefing. She'd lost everything to those things.

"Good luck out there," he called as the Devil Hunter, the woman, and the girl left the APC for a ship that could just be seen among the nearby rocks.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear recipient, the canon used to build this was from many sources. Both movies and books came into play, comic books, and apocryphal information. The only source I will state I definitely left out was _Prometheus_ , possibly much to Ridley Scott's disappointment. I just favor the universe as it stood before that movie.


End file.
